I was planning some research on Management Styles in general, however I stumbled across this one and got a bit distracted. It is relevant to management styles overall, but focuses on 2 specific models - by Belasco Stayer and Manz Sims.
Leaders must paint a clear picture of great performance for the organization and each individual
Flight of the Buffalo(Belasco & Stayer, 1993) explores the paradigm shift in leadership from the old command and control model (a head buffalo leads through acts of planning, organizing, initiating, and controlling) to the new intellectual capitalism one (where everyone becomes a leader). The old paradigm of command and control is also known as "Managerial Capitalism" where professional managers centrally control the corporation while pretending that they are under the authority of shareholder-owners.
The Metaphors
The comparison to the Buffalo herd is that they will not act independently without the guidance of the leading Buffalo, therefore the followers will stand idle and be slaughtered if the chief buffalo is killed first.
The classic command and control leader is, metaphorically, the lead buffalo: the individual who directs all day-to-day operations of the company and expects subordinates to defer all important decisions to the top. Head Buffalo plans, organizes, commands, coordinates, and controls.
When geese fly in the "V" formation, the whole flock adds considerably more to its flying range than if each bird flew alone. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the formation. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing, and another goose flies point. The back geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. Finally, when a goose gets sick and falls out, two geese fall out of formation with it until it is either able to fly or it is dead. They then launch on their own, or with another formation, to catch up with the group.
So in the new paradigm, the geese rotate leadership regularly and frequently, enabling each member to be responsible for the appropriate course and direction of the team, and allowing each to rest and recuperate from the additional work of leading the flight, as needed.
The Flock of Geese replaces the Head Buffalo mentality. Power is no longer based upon physical/mechanistic forms, but is now based on intellectual capitalism.
The Model
Buffalo - or Managerial Capitalism, the old command, coordinate, and control model of leadership.
Lead Goose - or Intellectual Capitalism- leaders who coaches and trains people to take ownership, and lead themselves in a (self-managed work) team-based, customer focused discipline. Ownership is thus not about legal rights, but a state of mind. There is a strong focus on teams and empowerment. Also, people are given direct control and responsibility over their own work. Lead geese question their empowered leaders to think for themselves. The emphasis is on partnership in a network-type organization.
Buffalo | Geese |
Hierarchy | Network of teams |
One leader | Everyone is a leader |
One voice | Many voices |
Leader will fix it | Everyone fixes it together |
Co-dependency | Empowerment |
Leader owns work responsibility | Person working owns their own work |
Slow learning | Fast learning |
Leader is head buffalo, not a team player | Leaders coach others and seek to be one of the team |
Leader is boss | Customer is boss |
Fit for stable times | Fit for changing times |
Theory X (McGregor) | Theory Y (McGregor) |
Autocratic leader (Lewin) | Participative style, tending towards Laissez Faire (Lewin) |
Tells and Sells (Tannenbaum & Schmidt) | Shares and Consults (Tannenbaum & Schmidt) |
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